PSD proposes merging up to 1,600 Romanian communes in administrative reform

A smaller map of local government

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) is preparing an administrative-territorial reform that would cut the number of town halls in Romania. MEP Dragoș Benea, who coordinates the party's working group on the reform, outlined the plan at a press conference on Monday, 9 November. He said the reorganization would lower administrative spending and improve local councils' access to European funds. Using a 3,000-resident threshold, Benea gave about 1,600 localities in one set of remarks and almost 1,700 communes in another. He stressed that not all of them would disappear, and the final number could be 700, 800 or 900, depending on what the county committees conclude.

Six criteria and county committees

The party's planned "sustainability matrix" would score each administrative-territorial unit (UAT) against six criteria. These cover population and demographics; economic sustainability, which compares a town hall's own revenue with its spending and local tax collection; administrative capacity, including competences, investment and funds raised; connectivity, meaning distance to transport, health and fire-service facilities; accessibility to basic services such as schools, clinics, kindergartens and doctors; and local public services like water, sewerage, gas, street lighting and public transport. Benea said the matrix would show which units are sustainable and which should be reorganized or merged.

“We want to produce the first administrative-territorial reorganization document Romania has had since 1968, a robust document that can stand up before Parliament.”

Each county would set up a reorganization committee led by the prefect, with representatives from the County Council, the cadastre office, the county statistics directorate, the school inspectorate, the police and the agriculture directorate. These committees would consult local administrations and send proposals to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Development. Benea also said villages would keep their names while communes would be renamed, and that a transition period with free document replacement, paid by the state where needed, is under consideration.

Rival plan and the cities question

Benea said he has reservations about the Ministry of Development's project, which provides only for voluntary mergers. The ministry's proposal covers 429 communes with fewer than 1,500 residents that would be merged under the reform. Over half of those communes are led by PSD mayors, and nearly 37% by PNL mayors. On cities, Benea said 55% of them no longer meet the legal 10,000-resident threshold but still have city administrations. He cited Slănic Moldova, a small town in his county next to Târgu-Ocna, as a case where a single city could emerge.

Mayors, councillors and the 2028 deadline

Benea said the new framework should apply from the local elections in 2028 and would not affect mandates already under way. He named two pressures: the electoral calendar, since changes must be made one year before elections, and the 2028-2034 multiannual financial framework, when cohesion funds are expected to be smaller than before. He estimated that between 15,000 and 18,000 elected local officials, including mayors, deputy mayors and councillors, might no longer hold posts from 2028 onward, a figure based on calculations that still rely on public databases.

What comes next

Benea said the working document is meant to be finished in March, a race against the clock, and that the reform should have started earlier because of European funding. He also said the government should take responsibility before Parliament for the PSD proposal.

“All the mayors will oppose it, and all parties will lose, PSD the most. I am not naive. But this reform is needed.”

The final form of the reform has not been set, and the proposals are still being worked on.